FOOTNOTES:
[89] "In the French accounts of this transaction, Fort George is the name given to the fort. This was a strong position at a short distance from Fort William Henry. In the vicinity of the village of Caldwell is situated the site of the old Fort William Henry, and a short distance beyond the ruins of Fort George, which was built during the campaign of Amherst."—Picturesque Tourist, p. 104.
[90] "Lake George, called by the Indians Horican, is justly celebrated for its romantic and beautiful scenery, and for the transparency and purity of its waters. They were exclusively selected by the Jesuit missionaries to perform the typical purification of baptism, which obtained for it the appropriate title of Lac Sacrament. The less zealous English thought they conferred sufficient honor on its unsullied fountains when they bestowed the name of their reigning prince, the second of the house of Hanover."—Last of the Mohicans, p. 2.
[91] "The abandonment of the enterprise against Crown Point, on which they had securely relied, was a severe disappointment to the New England States."—Graham's Hist. of the United States, vol. iv., p. 5.
"The attack on Louisburg was a scheme very favorable to the views and interests of France at this period, as it left M. de Montcalm entirely at liberty to prosecute his plans of conquest, and Louisburg was so strongly defended that little apprehension was entertained for its safety."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 371.
[92] "Upon our anchoring in Chebucto harbor, our commanding officer went ashore, and waited on his excellency the Earl of Loudon, who, with Major-general Abercromby, expressed great pleasure at our arrival, with the information they received of the fleet, and re-enforcements we had parted with at sea; and his lordship said, 'We had staid so long, he had almost despaired of us,' but being assured our delay proceeded principally from an obstinate set of contrary winds, that had retarded us in Ireland above two months after our arrival at the port of embarkation, his lordship seemed pleased. (As the fate of the expedition to Louisburg in this campaign depended, in a great measure, on the speedy sailing and junction of the fleet and forces from Europe with those of the Earl of Loudon, it was for this reason I judged it necessary to commence this work with the first orders to the troops in Ireland to march and embark for foreign service; and it will thereby appear that the earliest measures were taken at home to forward this enterprise, which, without doubt, would have succeeded, if the armament could have sailed when first intended)."—Knox's Historical Journals of the Campaigns of North America, vol. i., p. 14.
The same cause—impossibility of exactly combining fleets and armies—had proved the ruin of every expedition, on a grand scale, undertaken by either French or English, in America, for years before.
[93] "It was resolved, according to the custom of this war, to postpone the expedition to another opportunity."—Belsham, vol. ii., p. 372.
"I do not augur very well of the ensuing summer; a detachment is going to America under a commander whom a child might outwit or terrify with a pop-gun."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Feb. 13, 1757.
[94] "It being now universally known at Halifax that the expedition against Cape Breton is laid aside for this season, the clerk of the Church, to evince his sentiments upon the situation of affairs, gave out and sung the 1st, 2d, 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, and 26th verses of Psalm xliv., of the New Version. A Jew merchant and another man were this morning committed to jail by the governor for circulating a false report of there being only five ships of war and three frigates at Louisburg; but the Earl of Loudon, being superior to such mean resentments, ordered them to be released in the evening."—Knox's Historical Journal, vol. i., p. 24.
The extraordinary ardor of Major-general Lord Charles Hay, having made him much louder than others in condemning Lord Loudon's conduct, upon this occasion, a council of war was called to consider the tendency of his reflections, and the consequence was his being put under arrest. General Hopson's letter to Lord Loudon in October, three months afterward, mentions Lord Charles Hay being still under arrest, and complains of three regiments, with their commanding officers at their head, having gone "in corps" to wait upon him.
[95] "Shortly after came letters from the Earl of Loudon, the commander-in-chief in North America, stating that he found the French 21,000 strong, and that, not having so many, he could not attack Louisburg, but should return to Halifax. Admiral Holborne, one of the sternest condemners of Byng, wrote at the same time that he, having but seventeen ships and the French nineteen, dared not attack them. There was another summer lost! Pitt expressed himself with great vehemence against the earl, and we naturally have too lofty ideas of our naval strength to suppose that seventeen of our ships are not a match for any nineteen others."—Walpole's George II., vol. ii., p. 231.
"Admiral Holborne declined to attack the French, because, while he had seventeen ships of the line, they had eighteen, and a greater WEIGHT OF METAL, 'according to the new sea phrase,' says Chesterfield, indignantly, 'which was unknown to Blake!' (Letter to his Son, Sept. 30, 1757.) He adds, 'I hear that letters have been sent to both (Holborne and Loudon) with very severe reprimands.'"—Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv., p. 168.
"The recent fate of Admiral Byng, who was shot on the 14th of March, 1757, for incapacity in a naval engagement, is supposed to have paralyzed the energy of many British officers at this juncture."—Graham's United States, vol. iv., p. 6.
"Dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de tems en tems un amiral pour encourager les autres."—Candide, ch. xxiii.
"The miserable consequences of our political divisions (in 1757) produced a general unsteadiness in all our pursuits, and infused a languor and inactivity into all our military operations; for while our commanders abroad knew not who would reward their services or punish their neglects, and were not assured in what light even the best of their actions would be considered (having reason to apprehend that they might not be judged of as they were in themselves, but as their appearances might answer the end of some ruling faction), they naturally wanted that enterprising resolution, without which the best capacity, and intentions the most honest, can do nothing in war."—Annual Register.
[96] "Directly on the shore of the lake, and nearer to its western than to its eastern margin, lay the extensive earthen ramparts and low buildings of William Henry. Two of the sweeping bastions appeared to rest on the water, which washed their bases, while a deep ditch and extensive morasses guarded its other side and angles. The land had been cleared of wood for a reasonable distance around the work, but every other part of the scene lay in the green livery of nature, except where the limpid water mellowed the view, or the bold rocks thrust their black and naked heads above the undulating outline of the mountain ranges. In its front might be seen the scattered sentinels who held a weary watch against their numerous foes.... Toward the southeast, but in immediate contact with the fort, was an intrenched camp, posted on a rocky eminence, that would have been far more eligible for the work itself.... But the spectacle which most concerned the young soldier was on the western bank of the lake, though quite near to its southern termination. On a strip of land, which appeared from its stand too narrow to contain such an army, but which, in truth, extended many hundreds of yards from the shores of Lake George to the base of the mountain, were to be seen the white tents and military engines for an encampment of 10,000 men."—Last of the Mohicans, p. 144.
[97] "I was a little child when this transaction took place, and distinctly remember the strong emotions which it every where excited, and which hitherto time has not been able to efface."—Dwight. The Last of the Mohicans has given an immortal interest to the fate of Fort William Henry.—Graham's United States, vol. iv., p. 8.
[98] " ... Committing a thousand outrages and barbarities, from which the French commander endeavored in vain to restrain them. All this was suffered by 2000 men, with arms in their hands, from a disorderly crew of savages."—Burke, Annual Register for the year 1758.
[99] "Montcalm says in his letter to Monro, August 3d, 1757, 'I am still able to restrain the savages, and to oblige them to observe a capitulation, as none of them have been killed; but this control will not be in my power under other circumstances.'"—Russell's Modern Europe.
"Of the scene of cruelty and bloodshed that took place at Fort William Henry, the accounts which have been transmitted are not less uniform and authentic than horrible and disgusting. The only point which is wrapped in obscurity is how far the French general and his troops were voluntarily or unavoidably spectators of the violation of the treaty which they stood pledged to fulfill. According to some accounts, no escort whatever was furnished to the British garrison. According to others, the escort was a mere mockery, both in respect of the numbers of the French guards, and of their willingness to defend their civilized enemies against their savage friends. It is certain that the escort, if any, proved totally ineffectual; and this acknowledged circumstance, taken in conjunction with the prior occurrences at Oswego, is sufficient to stain the character of Montcalm with a suspicion of treachery and dishonor."—Graham's History of the United States, vol. iv., p. 7.
[100] "Webb, roused at length from his lethargy by personal apprehension, had hastily invoked the succor of the states of New England. The call was promptly obeyed, and a portion of the militia of Massachusetts and Connecticut was dispatched to check the victorious progress of the French. Montcalm, whether daunted by this vigorous demonstration or satisfied with the blow which he had struck, and engrossed with the care of improving its propitious influence on the minds of the Indians, refrained from even investing Fort Edward, and made no further attempt at present to extend the circle of his conquests."—Graham's History of the United States, vol. iv., p. 8.
[101] "Mais malgré les instantes demandes des Canadiens, le gouvernement de Madame da Pompadour ne songeoit point à leur envoyer des secours. M. Pitt, au contraire, apportant une même vigueur dans tous les départemens de la guerre, avoit destiné des forces considérables, à subjuguer dans toutes les parties de l'Amérique les François, qui abandonnés à eux-mêmes ne pouvoient tarder plus long tems à succomber."—Sismondi's Hist. des Français, vol. xxix., ch. liv.
[102] "We had a torrent of bad news yesterday from America. Lord Loudon has found an army of 20,000 French, gives over the design on Louisburg, and retires to Halifax. Admiral Holborne writes that they have nineteen ships to his seventeen, and that he can not attack them. It is time for England to slip her own cables, and float away into some unknown ocean!—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Sept. 3, 1757.
"To add to the ill-humor, our papers are filled with the new loss of Fort William Henry, which covered New York. That opulent and proud colony, between their own factions and our folly, is in imminent danger; but I will have done—nay, if we lose another dominion, I think I will have done writing to you; I can not bear to chronicle so many disgraces."—Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Oct. 12, 1757.
"When intelligence of these new losses and disgraces reached England, the people, already sufficiently mortified by their losses and disgraces in Europe,[104] sank into a general despondency; and some moral and political writers, who pretended to foretell the ruin of the nation, and ascribed its misfortunes to a total corruption of manners and principles, obtained general credit. Of these writers the most distinguished was Dr. Brown, whose Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times, abounding with awful predictions, was bought up and read with incredible avidity, and seemed to be as much confided in as if he had been divinely inspired."—Russell's Modern Europe, vol. iii., p. 324.
[103] The lengthened sheet of Lake Champlain stretched from the frontiers of Canada nearly half the distance between Canada and New York. On the Canada side the River Richelieu formed a communication with the River St. Lawrence; on the New York side Lake George extended the water communication twelve leagues further to the south, and then a portage of twelve miles over the high land, which interposed itself to the further passage of the water, conducted the traveler to the banks of the Hudson, at a point where the river became navigable to the tide.[105] It was this almost uninterrupted water communication between the rival states of Canada and New York that rendered the forts on Lake Champlain[106] and Lake George[107] such important objects of attack or defense.
[104] The capitulation of Closterseven, or Convention of Stade, was signed in September of this year.
[105] Here Fort Edward was situated.
[106] Ticonderoga and Fort Frederick, or Crown Point.
[107] Fort William Henry.